The Electro-Oxidation of CO at the Ru(0001) Single-Crystal Electrode Surface

Strong Anisotropic Interaction Controls Unusual Sticking and Scattering of CO at Ru(0001)

Complete sticking at low incidence energies and broad angular scattering distributions at higher energies are often observed in molecular beam experiments on gas-surface systems which feature a deep chemisorption well and lack early reaction barriers. Although CO binds strongly on Ru(0001), scattering is characterized by rather narrow angular distributions and sticking is incomplete even at low incidence energies. We perform molecular dynamics simulations, accounting for phononic (and electronic) energy loss channels, on a potential energy surface based on first-principles electronic structure calculations that reproduce the molecular beam experiments. We demonstrate that the mentioned unusual behavior is a consequence of a very strong rotational anisotropy in the molecule-surface interaction potential. Beyond the interpretation of scattering phenomena, we also discuss implications of our results for the recently proposed role of a precursor state for the desorption and scattering of CO from ruthenium.

Hydrocarbon adsorption in an aqueous environment: A computational study of alkyls on Cu(111)

Hydrocarbon chains are important intermediates in various aqueous-phase surface processes, such as CO2 electroreduction, aqueous Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, and aqueous phase reforming of biomass-derived molecules. Further, the interaction between water and adsorbed hydrocarbons represents a difficult case for modern computational methods. Here, we explore various methods for calculating the energetics of this interaction within the framework of density functional theory and explore trade-offs between the use of low water coverages, molecular dynamics approaches, and minima hopping for identification of low energy structures. An effective methodology for simulating low temperature processes is provided by using a unit cell in which the vacuum space is filled with water, employing the minima hopping algorithm to search for low-lying minima, and including dispersion (van der Waals) interactions. Using this methodology, we show that a high coverage of adsorbed alkyls is destabilized by the presence of water, while a low coverage of alkyls is stabilized. Solvation has a small effect on the energetics of hydrocarbon chain growth, generally decreasing its favorability at low temperatures. We studied higher temperatures by running molecular dynamics simulations starting at the minima found by the minima hopping algorithm and found that increased temperatures facilitate chain growth. The self-consistent continuum solvation method effectively describes the alkyl-water interaction and is in general agreement with the explicit solvation results in most cases, but care should be taken at high alkyl coverage.

Monomer adsorption on equilateral triangular lattices with repulsive first-neighbor interactions

A model of monomer adsorption on infinitely long, finite-width M equilateral triangular lattices with nonperiodic boundaries is presented. The study includes adsorbate-adsorbate first- and second-neighbor interactions with results obtained for repulsive first neighbors. The matrix method and numerical algorithms presented here allow determination of the occupational characteristics of the adsorption crystallization phases, which fit exact analytic expressions in the width M of the lattice. The limit as M approaches infinity provides the complete energy phase diagram for the infinite two-dimensional surface and recovers the results obtained by different methods that were often applied only in restricted energy regions of the phase diagram. The ordered phases are (2x1), (2x2), (3x1), (square root of 3xsquare root of 3) R30 degrees, and the complementary phases of (2x2) and (square root of 3xsquare root of 3) R30 degrees. Comparison is made with other theoretical studies and with experimental observations on adsorption systems consistent with the limitations of the model. In some cases, comparison with experimental data yields bounds on the interaction energies between adsorbates. On the basis of the model, suggestions are made on the manner in which to conduct relatively low temperature experiments to allow determination of most, if not all, of the interaction energies from the knowledge of the sequences of phases and the conditions prevailing at the transitions between phases.